2 companies face complaint for text spam

ABS-CBN News

MANILA -- Globe Telecom has filed a complaint against two companies that send spam text messages to subscribers.

Globe filed a complaint at the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) against Caritas Health Shield and Center for Global Best Practices.

The companies are allegedly involved in sending spam messages to Globe subscribers.

Yolly Crisanto, senior vice-president of Globe Telecom, said they filed a complaint against the two companies because the spam messages affect the telco's services.

"I get a spam message, its from someone whom I do not know, and it invades my privacy. Alam namin kung ano ang nararamdaman ng subscribers namin. It impacts our brand of service," she added.

Crisanto said Globe does not give out the telephone numbers of its subscribers.

"I also want to correct the misimpression that Globe is actually selling these numbers because we are not. There are a lot of marketing companies that actually harvest these numbers, that's one. 'Yun yung mga telemarketing firms."

Globe subscribers can visit the company's website to report about text spam.

The NTC also allows subscribers to report cases of text spam on its website.

Meanwhile, Smart Communications and Sun Cellular said they are still waiting for instructions from NTC before they block numbers that send text spam.

They also advised subscribers to beware of text spam and just ignore messages from unknown numbers.

ABS-CBNmobile, meanwhile, reminded its its subscribers to take necessary precaution against organized text scams that give discounts, refunds, or prizes.

"Legitimate advisories from ABS-CBNmobile are labeled as ABS-mobile, and do not come from 11-digit numbers," it said in a statement Thursday.

"Subscribers are encouraged to validate and/or report unusual texts and calls with the company's customer service team via (02)-2667878, or report via our official ABS-CBNmobile fan page on Facebook," it added.

Meanwhile, the companies accused of text spamming said have yet to receive a copy of the complaint from the NTC. -- report from Alvin Elchico, ABS-CBN News